Trial by Levity

by Christopher Botkin

In a quiet corner of the 9th dimension, a little planet called Bub drifts casually through space. The collection of stories about the people of Bub and their strange world is called Bublore, and it is being written now. “Trial by Levity” is the story of Puddle, a newsey in the big city, who prides himself on keeping his ears and eyes open. Puddle sells newspapers for the Nineday News, and he’s trained and organized a crew of his fellow “school orphan” street urchins into a record-breaking newsey sales force. At the same time, Puddle and company are open to opportunity, and it isn’t always on the up-and-up. A string of such opportunity lands Puddle with a pile of money and a miniature statue, but wraps him in a web of counterfeit bills, blackmail and mistaken identity.This all takes place against a backdrop of the weird physics of Bub, where Spontaneous Blizzards crush unwary people who are out-of-doors in the pitch black Shadow, and Gravity Anomalies can double one’s weight, or cast one bodily completely off the planet. Clod and Dirt’s monkeyfish scheme, the Grassway Little Finger, crooked Flint Fault’s shady pawn shop, Puddle saving the Bank, and the big counterfeiting case are all somehow connected. When the dust has finally settled, Puddle didn’t get the girl -- but the girl may have got Puddle.

250 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2024

Reviews

[Stuart Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light-hearted look into the world of Bub, complete with a primer on some of the quirky differences between their 9th Dimensional society and ours. Time and math are different as well as the culture. And watch out for the gravity anomalies, they can be an amusing tourist attraction, or a lethal obstacle. The main character, Puddle, is a school-orphan and newsie (they still have print newspapers) who keeps his eyes open, and his ear to the ground, and stumbles across some interesting schemes that he determines to take advantage of as an opportunity. A cast of eccentric characters, regardless of the class structure, keep secrets great and small, and deal with petty larceny, counterfeiting, smuggling, and a unique justice system. Will the miscreants get caught and face the perils of the justice system? Or will they get away with their schemes? Some might, and others might not. No spoilers - just read and enjoy.